


Instinct

by sian1359



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Case Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-20
Updated: 2011-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-27 14:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/296842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sian1359/pseuds/sian1359
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Take your rookie to court day has some unforeseen consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Instinct

**Author's Note:**

> Written for tli as part of the 2011 h50-holidayswap on lj.
> 
> My thanks to auburnnothenna for her usual brilliant edits; the mistakes and stupid bits left are all me.
> 
> This story takes place between episodes 5 & 6 in season one.

 

"Detective Williams."

"Go ahead, Kono," Danny told her as he turned back at the ADA's voice. "I'll be out in a minute."

Kono nodded. She made sure Danny was steady with his cane through the crowd of departing people before making her own way through the exodus in the opposite direction.  Her own knee twinged with remembered pain response, even if most of the time her accident felt like it had happened a lifetime ago and had only kept her from staying on the pro circuit, not from following in so many of her family's footsteps by joining HPD.

Speaking of family. Kono pulled out her phone and hit the first number on her speed dial as soon as she cleared the building.

"Hey, cuz," she greeted Chin when he answered.

_"Kono. How goes 'take your rookie to court day'?"_

Kono rolled her eyes even if her only audience were the others flocking out of the courthouse. Steve had come up with the idea after Danny had reminded their boss of today's required court appearance regarding a case from back when Danny worked directly for HPD. It wasn't that Kono minded being assigned basically more classroom work despite her recent graduation — or even being called a rookie, since she was. For the most part the task force was on desk duty with Danny in early recovery from his ACL surgery, the four of them spending most of their time familiarizing themselves with the heavy players on the islands, as well as still hashing out the particulars of how their squad would operate. So it wasn't like Kono was missing out on anything _interesting_ by having to be here. Still…

"It's been boring as hell," she said scathingly, keeping her voice down however, in case one of the defense attorneys or some other interested party might be nearby. Not that she'd likely have been heard anyway, as theirs wasn't the only court taking a break and the walkway was full. Even the nearest grassy area housed what looked like an exonerated defendant and his counsel, with news crews standing attendant for a not-so-impromptu press conference.

"Danny was good, though," she admitted, heading toward one of the big trees near her car on Halekauwila to get away from the potential cameras, as well as find some shade from the afternoon sun. "It was actually a little intimidating. I mean, Danny's usually so … volatile, but here he was scary focused and damning in his testimony, even during cross.  Especially during cross. Frankly, Danny's old partner probably isn't going to be needed for the jury to convict."

_"Never too many nails in that kind of coffin, though."_

"No, I get it," Kono nodded despite Chin being blocks away. "I'm also looking forward to meeting Danny's former partner just to get the dish. But I have to say that I'm hoping we're more or less done. Or at least that there aren't any more 'expert' witnesses to be called. I'm not sure I'll be able to stay awake."

 _"Poor Kono. You'll find that it's different when it's your own case,"_ he told her with a voice of experience. _"You get invested in all of the testimony, in hoping your guys don't screw up. Also in keeping track of who else is in the courtroom and whether someone's going to make trouble."_

"I could almost hope someone would – "

 _"Hey, never say_ – "

"Yeah, yeah, I know, cuz. Never tempt fate. I did say 'almost'," she reminded him then sighed and turned back toward the front of the building. What she really was hoping for was Danny's arrival. If they _were_ done — at least for the day — she thought Steve could be talked into letting them take the rest of the afternoon off since they'd been stuck inside for the last six hours, lunch not counting since they'd only had forty-five minutes which hadn't been long enough to go anywhere other than the on-site cafeteria.

"I still don't understand why it was just Danny and me," she complained. "I'm not the only rookie when it comes to testifying in criminal court." She knew she was whining, but if Steve had been stuck with them, they'd definitely get the rest of the afternoon off. There were _waves_ calling her.

 _"Maybe not criminal court, but five years in Military Intelligence guarantees that even if most of his time was spent tracking down the Hess Brothers, Steve has spent plenty of time testifying,"_ Chin reminded her.

Her body gave a little shudder at the mention of Victor Hess. She was too old to believe in the huaka'i po, too young to have an arch-nemesis (and Hess had been Steve's long before the keiki manuahi had killed Steve's father), but even though Hess' coming to the islands had been the instigation behind Kono finding her dream job with Five-0, her involvement had very nearly ended on her first day. Not to mention that Hess had come close to taking Steve out before getting his own fatal bullet. Kono still had nightmares about standing in front of Sang Min and his fellow kanaka hana kalaima, which had solely been done because of Hess' involvement.

 _"So, you on a bathroom break or done for the day?"_ Chin's quiet voice brought Kono back to herself.  

She no longer wondered how he did that — how he _knew_ — even from the other side of a phone line. For as long as she could remember, Chin had been there for her with a kind word or a friendly shoulder, sometimes even the right harsh words and a slap against the back of her head. Standing up for him while the rest of the family turned their backs still wasn't enough for how he'd kept her together when she'd lost her own dreams, but maybe she'd get her chance now with the two of them working together.

"Done, I think. I'm outside at the car, waiting on Danny. The ADA wanted to have a word. But it looks like he's coming down the steps now," she noted as she made the effort to tune back into her surroundings instead of staying lost in her head. "So, I don't suppose you can talk the bossman into letting us — oh, shit, that had to hurt."

_"Kono?"_

"No worries, brah. Or at least I hope not," she quickly reassured him even as she moved to reassure herself. "Just some mom not keeping track of her son and the kid ran right into Danny as he cleared the planters."

_"Ouch."_

"Yeah. Normally I'd expect to be hearing a Danny treatise on proper parenting even from here _and_ over the sound of the press conference, but the kid's even younger than Grace and as cute as a baby `ilio. Or maybe it's the mom's cuteness that's muzzled our boy," Kono said with a laugh. "She's looking quite apologetic, with her hands and, no doubt, eyelashes fluttering."

 _"Do not go there, Kono,"_ Chin warned. _"You don't know him well enough yet to play match – "_

"Hey, after that kiss we exchanged during the Salvo case, I think I have a pretty good handle on Danny's likes and his —"

Kono didn't even think about what would happen when she dropped her phone amid Chin's sputters. Although another situation she had no practical experience in was unfolding before her, this was something she and the other Academy recruits had been trained in. Even as she was reaching for the gun at her belt next to her badge, she was yelling "Gun!" in a voice that would have done Steve's former Navy recruit division commanders proud, followed by "Police, put your weapon down."

Her training, however, had not prepared her for the sheer outburst of terror that erupted. Shouts and screams overpowered anything else Kono might have tried to say, although they did nothing to muffle the sound of shots being fired by the man she'd noticed standing at the end of the interior row of hedges. People began running and falling, some ducking and some because they'd been hit. Kono managed to keep her eyes on the gunman despite the chaos, but had no clear shot — and no cover for herself unless she moved back to the cars.

Only he wasn't firing in her direction. He'd looked toward her at her first outcry, then calmly twisted toward the entrance and fired several shots inward before turning back and stepping forward into the open and firing toward the crowd that had been at the press conference.

Kono's heart flew into her throat when she couldn’t see Danny, fearing he was one of the bodies down on the ground from the first barrage. For a breath she was torn between trying for a better angle to stop the gunman or instead heading toward her partner. Then more people moved and she saw Danny crouched near the ground with the little boy from earlier gathered into his arms. He'd shifted to put his back between the gunman and the boy he was protecting, and was bent over the boy's mother who was laid out and not moving.

Right, civilians first, which in Kono's mind meant taking the gunman out so that no one else was endangered.

"Police!" Kono screamed out again, hoping the civilians in front of her would clear her field of fire with the warning even if that meant the gunman would have a clear bead on her too. Getting her wish was definitely a mixed blessing.

Despite feeling terrified, Kono kept her hand steady as she took aim. Before she could take her shot, however, the gunman fell. Kono blinked and searched for the new threat, blinking again when she saw one of the officers normally manning the security point at the entrance pretty much mimicking her position with his hand and gun outstretched. Apparently her willingness to become a target had allowed that officer to get close enough that he could take the shot first.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Her relief was short-lived, however, when she registered just how many people were down and unmoving, her mind instantly recalling the number of shots she'd heard, replaying them in a macabre attempt at trying to put it all in order. Despite wanting to go to Danny once more, Kono moved instead toward the first downed person she could reach, then onto the next when she discovered she was too late to help.

She was at her fourth victim before she realized there were others doing the same. She hadn't registered her own name being called, not until Chin dropped down into a crouch across from her and reached across to still her bloodied hands.

"Kono, it's okay. He's got this. Time for you to come with me."

'He' was someone from EMS. Kono hadn't even heard the sirens, but now as she let Chin help her to her feet, she saw the street was filled with ambulances and patrol cars. Their inhabitants were scattered all around her, a complete mobilization in only minutes, but then HPD — and Five-O headquarters — were only a couple of miles away from the Ka`ahumanu Hale building, so it made sense.

Even as she gratefully let herself fall a little into Chin's body and strength, she started to look around for more familiar faces, becoming frantic when she didn't see them. "Danny? Where's Danny?"

"Steve's with him, hiwahiwa," Chin reassured her with words and steady hands that led her toward the closest squad car. "Danny wasn't hit, but someone next to him was. He was kneeling next to her, keeping pressure on the wound with his hand, but that did a number on his knee so Steve's going to drive him over to Queens to make sure he didn't undo his surgeon's good work." Chin was the one kneeling now, staying next to Kono as she took a seat with the legs out the door, their knees touching.

"Oh, Christ. The little boy? It's was his mom, right?" Kono felt her eyes prickling, followed by a skin flush when she realized she was acting like a girl, not a cop. She tried to turn from Chin's too-knowing eyes, but found no judgment there when he stopped her, only compassion and understanding.

"The keiki is fine. His mom will be too. Most of the victims will, despite what it looks like. All thanks to you. Everyone is already saying how amazing you were."

"I wasn't the one who stopped him," Kono protested, feeling weird to hear his praise and see the admiration in his eyes even as she also soaked it in, as she allowed his regard to warm the cold that felt like it had leached into her bones. What had happened was too big to feel any pride over, especially since all she'd really done was yell a couple of times —

"You may not have pulled the trigger, but you stopped him, Kono. And that was from the officer who did pull the trigger. You saw him first and gave warning, then you kept him engaged even at the risk of your own life. Not everyone can do that, not even with years more experience under their belt. You kept your head, including during the aftermath, which inspired others to  help too. It's okay to feel good about that," Chin chided her gently. "It's also okay to feel overwhelmed by it all now and take a little break."

Overwhelmed was a good word for it, but Kono didn't want to feel overwhelmed. "I was bored and thought a little trouble could be fun," she choked out. "I wanted the afternoon off so I could go surfing – "

"So this is your fault?" Chin stopped her, his words sharp, as was the shake he gave her. "You are one of the ke kini akua now, that can order the world?"

The brush of his scorn hurt. And wasn't fair.

"What, no," she protested automatically, welcoming the flare of her own anger over the pain. "I didn't mean — I - I - I'm being stupid," she abruptly realized. Realized too what Chin had done and punched him for it, though not hard enough to do anything but let him know she was on to him. He simply waited while she ran things through her head. She wasn't finished with what had happened here, but she knew that she would be able to put it in its proper place now, both the horror as well as her own achievements.

"Since I'm such a big damn hero, you're buying, cuz," she said with a smile she could almost feel. "Let's go get the guys."

"After we find your phone," Chin told her, handing over a towel for her to clean off her hands. "Or you'll have to use mine."

Kono looked up in question.

"The news crew was broadcasting live. The family is going to want to hear from you directly that you're okay.

As if Kono's day couldn't get worse.

********

Danny woke with a groan on his lips. Getting up was going to be a bitch and for a moment he was tempted to stay. He was hungry though, and had to piss, then there was the work factor. While Steve had given him the day off, he might as well have stayed at the hospital if he was going to just stay in bed all day.

Stretching carefully, he moved even more carefully off his fold-out bed. Despite his penchant for blaming his new partner for all his ills, this one had been all him. Not that he would do anything differently in retrospect, except maybe find a way to keep Josh's mom from bleeding out that didn't involvekneeling on the concrete sidewalk outside the courthouse for however long it had been. Dropping down had been reflex and now even the knee that he hadn't just had surgery on ached.

He was also back in his brace, which pissed him off on principle; something he could _almost_ blame Steve for, since Steve had been the one insisting they head to the hospital once they'd turned over Josh's mom to the EMS personnel. At least he wasn't stuck using the crutches he'd given up a week ago, and ever since _House_ had come on TV, canes were almost cool.

The cane got him to the bathroom and back, then on to the kitchen where he found that Steve had been busy with more than turning off his alarm clock. A couple of new prescription bottles were set up next to his coffee maker, which had been prepped but not given a time to brew, but Danny figured it would take him long enough to get dressed that it would be ready when he was.

Alongside the coffee and meds, Steve had left a note, giving him the day off and mentioning breakfast was waiting in the refrigerator. Almost afraid to look, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Steve had scrambled up some eggs and pre-cooked a slice of bacon that he could simply microwave, along with a blueberry muffin and a carton of OJ. Steve had even cleaned up, all of which had been done sometime after Steve had dumped Danny into bed, stoned and wiped out from the shot he'd been given at the clinic.

It was all a little disturbing, the control which Steve was exerting on Danny's life — the control he _let_ Steve have when he really barely knew the man. At the moment, however, Danny appreciated the concern behind this ordering of his life. He and Meka had been pretty good as partners, when he'd been with HPD; they'd certainly gotten along better than Danny had with most of the other detectives who simply saw him as the loud-mouthed haole. With Steve, though… Despite their first meeting over drawn guns and the fact that Steve had gotten him shot, they'd clicked as partners better even than Danny had with the guys back in Jersey and in just weeks, not months or years. He might not be ready to accept the whole family — _Ohana_ — thing the others called it, but he could admit there was something… more between the four of them, something heading toward real friendship instead of friendly colleagues.

Speaking of which, he needed to check up on Kono. Steve had assured him that Chin was taking care of their rookie, but Danny had been the one responsible for her even being at the courthouse in the first place, and, even for a veteran cop, what she'd had to deal with wasn't easy. He'd been relieved that she hadn't been the one who'd taken out the gunman — not that he didn't think she could have — but so far, she'd only drawn her weapon and fired in response to someone shooting directly at her. While this incident had some of those same elements, it wasn't the same. Taking down a random shooter in public would have been the kind of first kill that could have haunted her for years.

Looking over at the clock, Danny sighed and took out his breakfast instead before limping over to the microwave. Assuming Kono had the day off too, she'd no doubt be out surfing, as far away from her phone and the job as she could get. Chin would likely be there with her too, and was just as experienced in dealing with rookies and trauma, not to mention the whole growing up with and watching out for his little cousin thing they had going, as Danny. Kono didn't need Danny's intrusion or the memories he'd drag back up. He'd check in with Chin instead, making sure that Kono wasn't having to deal with this alone, and call her later, just so she knew that he was thinking about her.

Of course, that meant he'd need to find something else to worry about, and something to do, either of which would be limited by his impaired mobility. And his decided lack of interest in most things Hawaiian. Even if he hadn't been hobbled, sightseeing — or any interactions involving tourists — was out. It was one thing to people watch, and maybe mock, in his own back yard, but here he was as out of place and overwhelmed as the worst of them.

If Danny had been back home, well, he would have still been with Rachel and there, maybe, he would take Grace out of school for the rest of the day. The two of them would have visited Rachel in the City, maybe had lunch or maybe just had a daddy/daughter day.Something he couldn’t do here, not without Rachel and her lawyer's _permission_.

There had always been something needing done around their house in Jersey too, or maybe over at his mom's or one of his sister's, even things that didn't involve ladders or hours spent standing. Or kneeling. In Jersey, he had family and friends and haunts where the bartenders, baristas and waitresses knew him. Welcomed him. He had hole-in-the-wall stores, the Garment District or the Shore, had the best museums in the world, Broadway, parks where the plants and insects weren't trying to overtake their environment, and certainly no pineapple plantations that were trying to masquerade as culture. In Jersey, he always had things to do or places to go, because in Jersey he had a home.

He'd made a home.

The jury was still out as to whether Hawaii would ever be more than the space he occupied between opportunities to be with Grace, but he supposed the food he'd just plowed through proved — as Steve had tried to tell him — that maybe he wasn't as alone here as he thought himself to be.

And he always had paperwork.

Actually, that wasn't a half bad idea. While he'd been debriefed by Steve as they'd waited for Danny's doctor (and it had been a full military debriefing; the closer Steve was directly involved in something, the more distance Steve put between what had happened and his emotions), but Danny had written down only the briefest of notes. He had a pretty good recall, even for a cop, but as yesterday had proved _before_ the shooting, a comprehensive and detailed set of notes put together just after any incident could go a long way to making sure some perp didn't walk because the cop couldn't properly recall what had happened months — or years — previous.

Only Danny's notepad wasn't set on the crate holding his gun safe, next to the lamp where he always put it, his phone and his badge each night. Because he hadn't really put himself to bed last night, Steve had, and while Danny was certain his gun had been safely stored away, while his phone, keys and badge were indeed by the lamp, there was no notepad.

Neither was it next to his laptop, in the bathroom, the freezer, or any other place a sane — or insane person like Steve — might have tucked it away. Which likely meant it was still in his car. Which, as he indeed verified in looking out the window, Steve had driven away in sometime yesterday.

Danny grabbed for his phone. He already knew Steve would laugh at him and tell him to simply use his laptop for his notes, but then Steve was simply a military investigator, not a trained detective. Laptops and even smart phones could be lost, broken, stolen or hacked. Sure, that might happen to a notepad, but every cop worth his salt treated his pad like his gun and badge; something to be taken from their cold, dead fingers.

" _McGarrett._ "

"Why is my —"

" _Hey, Danny, howzit?_ "

"Howzit? That's how you ask about your laid up colleague?  What — You're with Kamekona right now, aren't you?"

" _Maybe._ "

Danny snorted. "Maybe, he says. Maybe, like he's not all brahs and howzits and shaka every time he visits his homeboys."

" _Hoapili, Danny. We don't have homeboys, or homies, in Hawaii._ "

"And yet again, he deflects. He won't say yes, I'm taking some time to visit a friend — a _hoapili_ — or grab an early lunch."

It was nearly eleven after all, and no doubt Steve had been up at daybreak, off for his daily swim between islands.

"Nor will he say no, I'm taking it easy instead, because the rest of my team is out on injury reserve, and I would never go visit a _confidential informant_ about something that might result in going off after someone without any fucking backup!"

" _Chin's not injured,_ " came Steve's automatic protest.

Danny laughed at him. "Are you telling me he isn't with Kono right now? That they're not hiding out on some beach somewhere, getting skin cancer and teasing sharks?"

" _Ah, no? Yes? No?_ "

"No or yes, Steve? Or did you want to try maybe again."

" _I am not telling you he isn't with Kono,_ " Steve said decisively this time. " _Or, yes, if you prefer, the two of them are likely spending time at the beach. Of course, I get now why you don't like the beach, Danno, if you go there for skin cancer and sharks. The rest of us, we go for swimming or surfing, and sometimes maybe for just people watching or contemplating the waves. You should try the last one, it would do wonders for your blood pressure._ "

"My blood pressure is just fine. If I repressed all my feelings instead of setting them free, then maybe there would be something to worry about, considering I have a lunatic for a partner, _who is always stealing my car_ —"

" _Oh, hey, yeah, I guess I do still have it, Danny. Things did get a little crazy there yesterday, our comings and goings thrown off when you first left with Kono for the courthouse in her car. Because you're not supposed to be driving with your knee. I've already told you, all you have to do is give me a call and I'll come over and give you a lift._ "

"I don't drive with my knee, I drive with my foot and my hands, but that isn't the point, is it. What are we doing right now, Steven?"

" _Ah, talking on the phone?_ " Steve answered, obviously figuring out it was a trick question but not seeing the trick.

"Because I… " Danny led him through it.

" _Gave me a call,_ " Steve completed, all proud. All fucking idiot.

"And I gave you a call because you have my car. I have need of my car." I have need for it not to be in your hands when I'm not there to keep it and you safe, Danny almost said.

But there were some things Steve wasn't ready to hear said yet, things that Danny wasn't sure he could say. He wasn't sure he _wanted_ a new family this soon. In his head he knew that he and Rachel were done; even his heart had gotten the message when she'd used the incident at the football game he'd taken Grace to as a reason to threaten their current custody battle. Sure, Steve had done something to get the Governor to intervene — and that was a favor he owed that he couldn't help but compare owing to mob bosses like Frankie Salvo — but Danny wasn't convinced the new truce between them would hold. If he lost custody, he had no reason to stay in Hawaii. He wouldn't want a reason to stay anyway or three regrets he'd be leaving behind.

" _You mean you need me to drive it somewhere. Is it something I can pick up and just bring over, or is there someplace you need to be? I know it's not a Grace day for you. And I tried to check your schedule to make sure you were free of anything else today, but you don't keep a calendar on your phone, and I don't have the password to your laptop. I should probably have your password, Danny. Something like that isn't worth Chin or Kono's time if it's not an emergency, and if it somehow is, I'm not going to want to waste the time._ "

Danny's breath caught on the rant he'd intended to let loose. Yelling at someone because they cared was rude, and Danny's mom had raised him better. Yelling at Steve in such an instant, while cathartic in the short-term and, yes, better for his blood pressure, would be like swatting a puppy when it laid its kill on your doorstep. The puppy would never get it, and only be hurt by your actions in the meantime.

"I need my notepad from my car," Danny said, closing his eyes to inevitable. "I also wouldn't mind a lift to HQ, so I can start on the paperwork, if you're not to busy. And not that it's any of your business, but my main password for everything is Guidry49, with a capitol G."

" _I'll be there in twenty, Danny._ " Which was as close to a thank you he'd probably ever get from Steve, so Danny simply disconnected the call instead of calling Steve back to remind him that most civilized people said goodbye before the hung up. Or any of the number of other things he wanted to school his partner on. At least Steve hadn't teased him about the notepad.

****

A day wasn't enough time to get over an incident like what had happened to Kono and Danny, but neither might be a week or even a month. Chin knew this from past experience, knew there were also benefits in returning to a routine. So he hadn't objected when Kono told him she'd only be taking one day off. Nor did he say anything when she declined his offer to drive the both of them to work; regaining a sense of control was often a vital coping and healing technique. Even something as simple as driving herself in her own car might help.

Kono wasn't been one to be coddled, anyway. Not since she'd been little, and certainly not now when she still felt she needed to prove she was as tough as the rest of them.

Her turning him down also meant Chin had no reason not to ride his bike to HQ; zoning out until it was just him, his ride, and the open road was one of his own tried and true methods of putting his worries into proper perspective and settling himself. Work itself was obviously Steve's, Chin concluded upon seeing Danny's car already in the parking lot despite the early hour Chin had chosen in order to avoid most of the morning commute or tourist traffic which would begin to fill downtown in an hour or so.

Chin wasn't sure whether the car's presence meant Danny had decided to take only a day himself. With Danny prohibited from repetitive stress movements in the aftermath of his knee surgery for a couple of weeks — like dealing with stop and go driving — Steve had taken it upon himself to play chauffeur, even going so far as to make up his own set of keys to the Camaro since getting in and out of it was easier than Danny trying to climb up into and down out of Steve's monster truck.

Guessing, though, Chin rather expected to see Danny in with Steve, as from what he'd already seen in evidence, Danny didn't allow himself much of a life outside his daughter and his job. Even if he'd just come in to play Angry Birds or something on his computer, and offer the occasional opinion or advise if the rest of them caught a new case or found something in a cold one, that no doubt that suited their Jersey transplant better than sitting at home in his tiny apartment, watching Sports Center or one of Grace's movies.

So he wasn't surprised to see the two of them holed up in Danny's office, Steve looking over Danny's shoulder at Danny's computer, when Chin walked in. What was surprising was seeing Danny without his tie. He couldn’t tell whether Danny was wearing his usual dress slacks and loafers with the open-collared dress shirt, but neither was he convinced that Danny actually owned any jeans. Cargo pants were definitely a no, given the grief Danny always gave Steve over his, and while Chin normally didn't give a shit what his co-workers wore, the level of Danny's dressing down was most likely an indication of how the haole was feeling, and how long he planned on staying. Which would also be an indication of Steve's overall mood, since the boss was pretty pissy when one of his team wandered away from Steve's sphere of influence.

Chin shook his head when it became obvious the two of them were arguing, which it looked like they had been for some time, given the broadness of Danny's gestures and of Steve's smile. Most of the time the two of them were worse than any of Chin's cousins had been growing up, teasing or taunting as their moods and level of mischief dictated, with no regard to rank or professionalism. That such behavior translated into a remarkable synergy, whether they were truly working or simply spending time in each other's company, was probably the reason the task force was so affective, the bond between them almost as tight as Chin and Kono's for all that the team had only been working together for a couple of months. Sometimes, however, it made for long, exhausting days. Especially one that started a couple of hours earlier than normal.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" he asked from the doorway when the two of them failed to notice his arrival.

"Chin, hi," Danny greeted him with no concern of cutting himself off of whatever he'd been saying. "You're in early. What's the word on Kono?"

Chin ignored the early comment, given the two of them had come in first. While he had no doubt that Steve still maintained his Navy routine of morning PT before starting the day, he didn't think Danny was any kind of morning person. Calling attention to Danny's early morning would either lead to complaints about Steve's involvement in Danny's early morning, or bring up a reason why Danny might not have been sleeping so easily, and neither was the way Chin wanted the morning to go.

"Kono should be in, in an hour or so," he informed them instead.

"She doesn't need to," Steve started. 

"Actually, I think she does," he responded in turn, earning a nod from both Steve and Danny. "She's looking for normal."

"Meaning we shouldn't be buying her coffee or suggesting she might take some more time," Danny finished.

It was Chin's turn to nod. "It would be easier if we had a case – "

"Actually, I think we do," Danny interrupted, only to have Steve interrupt him in turn with:

"HPD, the DA and the Governor have all signed off on it, Danny. Philip Rogers is dead, case closed."

The name didn't ring a bell with Chin. "Who is Philip Rogers?"

"The guy who shot up the courthouse front steps," Danny answered him. "Turns out the guy had made bail on an aggravated assault charge a couple of days ago, his third violent felony, so if he got convicted he was probably going away for good. It took someone on the outside almost two weeks to raise enough money for even the bail bondsman and Rogers was pretty pissed about having to stay in lock-up. He was on record with the court over wanting to replace his attorney, but the judge wasn't giving any indication it was going to be allowed. His public defender was one of the victims."

Chin frowned. "Sounds pretty cut and dry – "

"See, he agrees, Danny," Steve whooped.

"But you obviously don't think so," Chin continued, giving Steve a small frown and shrug.

"No, I do not think so and thank you for being open-minded," Danny said smugly, with a tight grin shot in Steve's direction. "Well, yes, I think he took the opportunity to get rid of his lawyer, but no, I do not think that was his sole motivation to engage in a shooting spree."

"Any particular reason why?" Chin really didn't want to be forced into picking sides between the two of them, at least not until he had Kono with him so they could create their own side.

Danny was not deterred. "Again, thank you for asking, instead of just spouting the party line and commenting on my stress levels, Chin. Yes, I have my reasons, but I need your help in producing any evidence compelling enough for Captain Slacker here to take me seriously. Kono's help, too, since she's going to have her own observations."

"That's Lieutenant Comman —"

"Save it, Steve, that joke was old before you said it the first time."

"Well, like _I_ said," Chin did his own interrupting, "she'll be in at the regular time. So maybe we should shelve the whole thing until then?" Not that they wouldn't just find something else to argue about in the meantime.

"Nothing to shelve, Chin," Steve said with a hard pat to Danny's shoulder before taking a step back and spreading his hands wide in a show of harmlessness. "I'm willing to listen, despite what some people might lead you to believe."

The scowl on Danny's face had to be window dressing; he scooted back his chair and started to stand, accepting Steve's hand to steady himself before Steve then reached down to pick up Danny's cane and hand it over. The two of them then moved out of the office in synch, Steve shortening his stride automatically to stay near enough to render more aid if it became necessary. Danny was steady though, moving purposely toward their tech table, then turning to give Chin a hopeful look.

"Does this allow you to superimpose markers on a satellite image?" He asked as Chin turned the computer embedded within the table on, also triggering the overhead monitors.

"What are you trying to create?"

"Well, back home we'd create an incident board out of maps or drawings, designate witnesses with push pins, and those little numbered pin flags for victims. I just thought with all your fancy tech and skills, you could put something together something so we didn't have to put holes in the wall.  Unless you're hiding a cork board around here somewhere, Steven?"

Steve shook his head. "I think there's a white board or a maybe a chalk board back in one of the storage closets, but nothing to stick pins in. Do we even have push pins?"

"I'm sure we could borrow some from HPD," Danny responded dryly, with an expression aimed toward Steve that was more pitying than pissed.

"Hey, if we needed something elaborate, we used maps and plastic figures, or a grease pen on a command board that you could wear around your neck that was useable under water," Steve shot back, his tone and stance turning defensive.

"Or a stick in the sand, I imagine."

"And sometimes our own blood; whatever worked," which served to shut Danny up, as Steve obviously wasn't joking.

"Yeah, I can work something like that," Chin said to get them back on track, surreptitiously looking at the time to see how long it would be before he could expect Kono's arrival. Fifteen or twenty minutes.  He could do twenty minutes. Especially if he stalled and fussed over the renderings.

"I assume you want to start with the courthouse and surrounding streets?" he asked Danny.

Danny nodded and waited silently for Chin to get started.

While Chin had always tried to keep up with computer technology when he'd been with HPD, his training officer, John McGarrett had been an old school kind of cop. Kinda like Danny now that Chin thought about it, and quite unlike John's son, although Steve's still had to get use to no longer having instant access to some of the military's toys. HPD resources back then had been a few years behind, no doubt typical for a department that operated on the behest of politicians that also controlled their spending budget. Still, he'd used a PDA instead of the kind of black, leather-bound notepad Danny had brought out from his office with him, and had compulsively begun tracking any and all law enforcement software development being put on the market after the first time a savvy defense lawyer used a high tech presentation to blow holes in one of his cases.

Even after he'd been forced out of the department, Chin had tried to keep up with technology and software advances, with a thought toward maybe teaching justice and enforcement majors, or even working with some development company that could have used his perspective. And while neither of those options had panned out before he'd run into Steve McGarrett, that interest had given Chin an immediate place in the Five-0 task force, with the means portion of the governor granting them full immunity and means allowing him to purchase the cutting edge tools of the trade he utilized now.

He pulled up a street level satellite image of the courthouse on the table's inset screen and added some directional arrows for Danny's behalf. "You can orient the image to you from any direction," he told Danny while he called up a program to use as the people overlay.  "Just tap your finger once for every person you want to place in the scene. Once you've populated the area, tell me which figures you want to have special designations."

Chin prepped a couple more programs he thought Danny might find useful.  He had a pretty good idea of what he thought Danny was going for, so in addition to a vector rendering overlay, he began gathering the other eye-witness accounts, flagging the ones that didn't contradict one another over the disparate ones, which he could incorporate into a timeline that could then be translated into a 3D model of actions.

That was how Kono found them, Danny painstakingly placing people with Steve steady at his shoulder and offering soft suggestions based on what the scene had looked like by the time he and Chin had arrived, and Chin setting two images of fixed points — what position the people had started in, and where they'd ended up at the point the gunman had died. Kono's face blanched under the perpetual surfer's tan, but she stepped gamely up to Chin's side and looked at them expectantly.

"I'm recreating the timeline of shots and victims," Danny told her, his tone no-nonsense but his eyes sympathetic as she stepped a few inches closer to Chin. "HPD and the DA think the shooter's attorney was the target and everyone else was simply collateral damage."

Kono blinked a couple of times and sucked in her lips, then her expression turned inward and thoughtful. "You think his real target was one of the other victims," she said when she figured out what he was doing. "That his attorney was – "

"Was simply a target of opportunity." Danny finished with a nod. "I've got the shooter coming in from between cars on Punchbowl here, and the preliminary locations of the others at the time you yelled gun. If you see something off, missing, or that you disagree about, let us know."

Kono let her fingers dance about the tabletop, tracing her own recollections and only dipping down to actually touch and make a modification a few times. Chin coded her corrections in blue, flipped Danny's to red and stepped back while they hashed out their differing recollections.

"You saw him first and had eyes on him the entire time. So number the victims now," Danny prompted Kono when they reached an agreement.

Chin figured he was the only one who heard her intake of breath. He started to reach out, wanting to touch, to offer her more than silent support, but he recognized that not only would she likely shy away from it in front of the other two, she also might get pissed. Doing this kind of thing was part of being a cop, just one of the many painful things that they often faced, and no matter that she was just a rookie, she'd already confronted things just as terrible and dangerous without needing any hand-holding. Remembering that made him realize he was more than likely projecting his own fears onto Kono rather than picking up any cues. Chin laughed at himself silently for being an idiot and a chauvinist and took a step back to watch her take command of the situation.

"His first shots were fired in your direction, Danny," Kono said confidently. "Two without any hesitation, then he paused for a few seconds before breaking position and letting loose two more. The crowd near the television crew became his next targets." She stopped and closed her eyes for a moment; no one did anything to break her recall. "Three shots," she offered when her eyes opened, "while he was moving, then two more. For a total of nine?"

The last was asked as a question. Danny nodded, but it was Steve who actually answered.

"He used a Kel-Tec P-11, with a twelve round clip. Three bullets didn't get fired; eight out of the nine slugs have been recovered. HPD techs are still canvassing the area for the ninth slug."

"Okay, so which one was his public defender," she asked Danny of the eight green dots Chin had placed on their rendering to represent the eight victims.

"Number three or four. Basically the second set of two shots, into a foursome that had just come out of the courthouse. Leika Lepiki and Jeff Sayers weren't as quick as their companions, they didn't make it back inside before they were hit. Ms. Lepiki was one of the two fatalities."

"The other was the first victim, right? The guy who'd been standing closest to the gunman. I reached him first myself."

"Brian Nimonu," Chin confirmed with a look at the report.

"And you guys are sure Rogers started firing before his public defender came out of the building?" Steve asked.

Danny and Kono nodded.

"I can believe Rogers did some scouting, maybe using his own previous trials and indictments as a basis for the comings and goings at the courthouse, but it's not like we were coming out at the end of the Court's day," Danny pointed out. "He had no reason to suspect his attorney would be going through the doors when she did."

"Unless he'd been watching her during court and slipped away once he was certain the judge would be calling it soon," Steve happily played devil's advocate. "He could have then gone back to his car, retrieved his gun, and waited long enough to feel confident he'd see her before he was stopped or ran out of bullets. With him dead, Danny, we just don't know. We can't know."

"We can run facial recognition on the security camera footage of who entered and left the courthouse," Chin felt he should mention. "Unless Ms. Lepiki's judge allowed a news camera in to cover her trial, we won't be able to confirm Rogers actually sat in the crowd, but we could pin down if he'd been in the building."

"Sure, we could take the time to do that, but to what point? Like you said, we couldn't place him in the court, and if he didn't go into the courthouse prior to shooting, we're still just trying to prove a negative," Steve argued. "What you haven’t yet said is who you think his real target was, Danny. Or given me any reason as to why Rogers wanted to shoot _that_ victim."

Danny scowled and tapped the second victim. "I think his real target was Monica Tamin."

Steve looked skeptical, far more so than just from general butting heads with Danny. "Josh's mom," he said flatly. "The woman who's son you insisted we wait with while Child Protective Services found a sister to come in and take care of him, that you were insisting you were going to take home yourself if they hadn't found a family member or close friend to handle it."

The glare Danny sent Steve's direction would have stopped lesser men, but Steve was by no means finished. Or daunted.

"The woman we then had to wait until she was up to accepting visitors so you could let her know what was going on with her son and see for yourself that she was going to be fine, before you'd let me take you home and get you off your knee like the doctor insisted."

Deciding that redirecting the brewing anger from Steve to himself was the necessary thing to do (and reasonably confident that Danny wouldn't really be pissed if Chin asked a perfectly logical question, even if it might be contrary to Danny's thinking), Chin bit the bullet. "From where you placed yourself in the scenario, Danny, you were within five feet of Ms. Tamin. Are you that sure you weren't the target?  Maybe not you personally, but I assume you had your badge visible on your belt. He could have been happy just to take a shot at any cop."

"Then he should have taken a shot at me," Kono stepped in. "I identified myself and was drawing my service weapon. He had the shot and deliberately _didn't_ take it. And not because I was a woman," she told the three of them quite decisively. "Five out of the eight people he did shoot were women, so I don't think we can claim any kind of chivalry on his part."

That had Steve keeping quiet for a few seconds, but only a few. "Okay, say that I agree it looks like Monica Tamin was an intended victim, not an incidental one. What was Rogers' motive? Frankly, he was an idiot no matter who his target was, since he had a chance of surviving it he'd done it sniper style or in a drive-by. But let's say he had a plan to escape the shooting spree. Does he have any connection with Monica Tamin? Or have a reason to get a payoff for killing her? He couldn’t spend the money any easier while he was in jail than if he was dead, so what was in it for him?"

"That, Steven, is what I would like to use our time and resources to find out."

******

The last thing Steve wanted to do was interview victims. Talking to witnesses was bad enough and something he'd needed to do upon occasion during his time with ONI. Generally, though, he'd taken the job of checking in with sources or questioning suspects and if witnesses — or victims — needed to be interviewed, he'd leave it to JAG, NCIS, or a junior officer to handle. 

With a task force comprised of only four people, however, he had only a JG-like partner in Danny, his veteran Chief in Chin, and Kono, the rookie. Who had already accused him more than once of pawning off such interviews on her because she was the token female in the team. The worst part had been realizing that she was right, though discovering she wasn't very good at it had been an eye opener too. No doubt she'd get better with experience, but they didn't necessarily have the time to let her get that experience, not when every case they took responsibility for had either the Governor or their own personal involvement demanding immediate results.

Chin was good at it: born on the island, he had a local's connection and respect for the traditions and the people, even the tourists, and natural calm that put interviewees at ease. Danny was better, at least most of the time, having not only his training and experience to call upon, but his empathy and compassion as a father. As it was, kids automatically trusted Danny as a rule, and if the adults were parents, they usually did too. Now, if Danny would just bother learning and accepting the island rhythms…

Thinking about Danny and his refusal to embrace Hawaii as his home now, about how he accepted his outsider status as some kind of honor, just made Steve crazy. They were fortunate that Monica Tamin was basically an outsider too, having moved in with her sister over in Pearl City just over a year ago after a marriage gone bad. Danny would be able to relate to her as a fellow mainlander as well as a parent, not to mention having shared experiences in going through an ugly divorce and custody battle.

While Steve still wasn't sure Danny and Kono's theory that Rogers had a more specific target than his public defender, finding out there was an ex husband in the picture, one Monica had taken a restraining order out against, had made it easier to justify their investigation into the courthouse shooting to the Governor. Nor was he so arrogant as not to accept that his own theory was little more than something to counter Danny's, and one with even less supporting evidence. He was still kicking himself for having accepted HPD's instant sign off at face value; _trust but verify_ wasn't just an overused cliché, and he'd never have relied solely on someone else's conclusions when he'd been with the Teams, not when he also had an opportunity to do his own investigating.

For that lapse alone, he deserved Danny's inevitable _I told you so_ , no matter the final outcome.

It was also one of the reasons he had roped in HPD's assistance in checking out backgrounds on each of the other shooting victims, since Monica Tamin might not be the only one with someone in her past who might have wanted to kill her, while Chin and Kono continued to look for some connection between Rogers and Eric Miller, Monica's former husband. The other being that HPD might need a little _I told you so_ , too.

"Hey, sorry," Danny interrupted his musings, finally making it to the car to join Steve. "I didn't think Meka was going to be that long or I wouldn't have had you go on ahead."

"No problem, Danny.  Everything okay?"

Danny nodded and gestured for Steve to start the engine. "Just had a couple of things he wanted to go over before his testimony tomorrow. So, I was thinking, while I'm talking to Monica, you might want to check in on Josh, see what he's doing and maybe play with him. He's not going say anything bad about his dad intentionally, but kids know what's going on no matter how much you try to keep the fights hidden, and he might give us an angle his mom or aunt can't."

Steve frowned, both at the suggestion and the obviously hard-realized truth behind Danny's words. Danny normally had to work at being subdued and from the couple of times Steve had met Danny's daughter, he'd seen how tuned in to Danny's moods Grace was. No doubt she was just as, if not more sensitive, to her mother's. Bringing that up, however, would only make Danny pissed.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. You've seen how I'm not very good with kids," Steve reminded Danny of that incident in the elevator.

Danny chuckled. "You played soldiers as your real job for years, Steve. You're like a big kid yourself. You'll be fine as long as you don't pull your gun on him."

"I was in the Navy, Danny, not the Army. We're sailors, or frogmen and pilots, not soldiers." Not that Steve was actually upset since Danny hadn't meant in despairingly, but there was the principle involved.

"Potato, potatoh," Danny scoffed with a hand wave. "And I was speaking metaphorically while you, Steven, are deflecting. In the hope, I assume, that I will relent or actually forget what we were talking about." The look he then shot Steve turned confused from dismissing. "I thought you military guys were all about making friends with the local kids? That's certainly what we see back here in all the pictures."

"Navy SEALs don't spend a lot of time sitting around forward bases getting to know the locals." Fortunately Danny looked prepared to let it go with that, since Steve did not want to point out that in some of the places he'd been sent to, a kid as young as Grace might be the one who turned the gun on you, as well as acting as lookout. Most of the time it hadn't been like that, had been instead the perfect photo op material the Pentagon supplied for back home, but it only took the one instance…

"I suppose that's true," Danny acknowledge, drawing Steve's attention back to him. "Another instance of you being deprived instead of inept. I suppose I should be magnanimous then and grant you your wish. You talk to Monica and her sister, and I'll take Josh."

Steve glanced over in Danny's direction, saw that it was an honest offer instead of the mocking he expected. Despite that, Steve ended up shaking his head. "No, she already trusts and owes her life to you. You'll get more out of her than I will, probably the sister too. This is about the case, not me."

Danny's face broke out into a smile full of surprise and pride, in turn making Steve feel he had just earned something worthwhile. Of course Danny then had to ruin it by starting in on more ways Steve was just like Josh, but then that was easier to take than Danny truly pitying him. Or dwelling on reasons why Steve might be wary of kids beyond lack of exposure. If Steve retaliated by taking a couple of corners a little faster than advised so Danny might have to grab hold of the door handle, well…

Danny's phone rang just as Steve had turned into the right neighborhood, the _Surfin USA_ ringtone he'd chosen for Kono filling the car.

"Whatcha got, Kono?" Danny asked, putting her immediately on speaker.

" _We found a money trail, Danny._ " Kono's excitement was clear.  " _Philip Rogers' has a half-sister, from his mother's second marriage. She's in a long-term care facility in Wisconsin that received an anonymous payment of a hundred thousand dollars for future rent and care. We didn't make the immediate connection because she's there under her own married name, and there's no record that they even know each other; his parents divorced when he was a kid and he ended up with his dad who had sole custody in another state while his mom stayed and tried to drink herself to death._ "

"But you found evidence they were in touch?" Steve asked, leaning over to be better heard through Danny's phone, and to get a rise out of Danny even though he hadn't taken his eyes off the street ahead of him and he was basically slowing to park anyway.

" _Not exactly. We found out Rogers knew the brother of the half-sister's husband, though. A Ray Evans. They shared time in an anger management program when they were serving in Chippewa Correctional Facility up in Michigan six years ago. The brother was in on a domestic violence conviction while Rogers was up for robbery and assault. Turns out Evans is also the outside contact who arranged Rogers bail here in Hawaii. We haven't quite pinned down Rogers or the brother as the anonymous source, but Chin knows it's there. He's confident he just needs to dig a little deeper. I was going to see if I can locate the mother and call her, see if she can confirm he had a reason to care about his half-sister._ "

Steve wasn't a big fan on coincidences. Still, it was thin even if it fit to Rogers needing and coming into money. Nor did it give them who Rogers had been paid to kill.

" _Hey, if we do find out the money came from Rogers, does that mean it's going to be confiscated from the sister's care?_ "

"Asset forfeiture, rookie," Danny told her. "If the money is proven to be proceeds from his crime."

" _So she becomes a victim too._ "

"We don't make laws and policy; we just enforce them," he reminded her. "Think about the sister as she was a month or a year ago, if you need to. She'll simply be in the same situation she was then. Sure, it's a lousy break, but it's not so much taking away something from her as it is preventing her from getting something."

_It's still a shitty thing to think about, but then this whole case is. On the one hand, it makes me glad Rogers is dead."_

Steve figured he better say something to that, but he felt pretty much the same and from Danny's expression, he wasn't feeling any happier about this turn of events. "We still need to find a connection between one of the victims to Rogers outside the public defender, Kono," he said, deciding that getting her back on track was close enough. "Danny and I are onsite at the Tamin household now, so maybe we'll come up with something."

_Good luck. We'll call if we get anything more."_

"Same here." Danny sighed as he disconnected the call. "Sometimes it would be nice to be able to operate under your codes," he admitted as the two of them exited the car.

"Nothing is as black and white as the movies tell it, Danny. We had to deal with collateral damage too."

"Yeah, I suppose. Let's go find out if that's what Monica Tamin is."

Monica turned out to be very happy to see Danny. Josh too, although he accepted Steve readily enough when Danny introduced him as a friend, eager to show off the toys in his room to someone new. As they'd walked up the steps to the front door, Danny had suggested that Steve ask if Josh was enjoying living in Hawaii, ask about his friends, and if he was happy at his new school. Being given a chance to complain about his current situation or instead about his former home would be a more organic opportunity for Josh to talk about his father without Steve asking directly. Steve had made a mental note to rag Danny later about using psych words like organic, but for now it wasn't like he had any better ideas, and it beat having to ask about Josh's comic books or sticker collection — though the hot wheels track and the Legos were kinda cool.

Involved in helping Josh build a fortification that might have looked a little like the Shrine of Hazrat Ali while Josh talked about the dog he used to have, Steve didn't notice that Danny and Monica had come to stand in the door to Josh's bedroom, both with identical looks of indulgence on their faces, until Danny cleared his throat. Looking then to his watch to cover his embarrassment, Steve was surprised to see that nearly forty minutes had passed.

"You and Josh almost done here, Frank Lloyd Wright?"

Steve nodded and jumped up, stepping back to Danny's side when Josh's mom came in to look over and praise their handiwork. She brought Josh with her as she escorted the two of them to the door, which made the goodbyes awkward, especially when Josh clung to his leg a little before Steve could extract himself and follow Danny down the steps.

"Look at you, you big softy," Danny teased as they slowly made their way back to the Camaro. "I knew you could do it."

"Were you able to get anything useful out of Monica or his sister?" Steve purposely deflected, using ducking into the car to make sure he didn't blush – at least to make sure Danny didn't see him doing it.

"Not directly," Danny answered instead of mocking Steve further after he'd gotten himself and his cane back inside. "She's never even visited Wisconsin or Michigan, but she and her husband did live in Indiana before they moved to Ohio, which is where she divorced him. She didn't recognize any of the names around Rogers. "

"Did you tell her we think her husband may have had something to do with the shooting?" Steve asked as he got them started back to Honolulu. While they'd talked about it, it had been decided to leave it up in the air, for Danny to make the determination as they talked based on what information he was getting in return.

"I did not. She said Josh was already waking up every night with nightmares and the only way she's been able to cope so far is because of her concern for her son. Giving them all more reason to panic won't make getting through this any easier."

"I'll ask HPD to make sure the local patrol units step up their drive-bys while we're still figuring things out."

"What about you? Your play date obviously went well, but did Josh tell you anything we might be able to use?"

Steve shot Danny a scowl. "Josh had a dog when he was younger. Although he didn't come outright and say it, I got the feeling it died because of something his dad had done. We know that Monica took out the restraining order because she was concerned her husband might try to steal Josh once he was denied visitation rights, but maybe the husband had a temper, too?"

"You're thinking domestic violence? If so, she never filed and didn't mention anything like that to me. The divorce was dissolved under no fault, though she could have declared weightier grounds."

"Lots of women don't like to admit they lived with an abuser," Steve felt obligated to point out, though he knew Danny probably had lots more experience with that type of victim than he did.

"The sister might know. Or at least suspect," Danny agreed. "I'll call her and ask, but once we get back into the office. They were going to take Josh out to lunch at McDonalds, and at that age, that's a big deal."

"You still treat it as a big deal even at your age."

"Only because at least there, I know I will get my food how I expect it!" Danny happily took the opening Steve had given him. "Yes, they serve spam for breakfast and you can get pineapple on everything, but they don't automatically include the pineapple unless you ask for it."

Knowing Danny was good for at least a twenty minute rant on pineapple and other Hawaiian foods if he indulged him, Steve let Danny's ranting wash over him, while he sought out the connection his brain was telling him was there in something or several somethings they'd heard. It wasn't like Danny needed his participation to flail around, though Steve made a point to make a noise every now and then to encourage Danny to continue. As Danny segued into a tangent about putting in his time with having to live with Rachel's British food choices and the entire counseling session _that_ had led to when they'd still be trying to work on their marriage, Steve thought he had it.

"I don't suppose Monica mentioned whether she and her husband went through counseling before the divorce?" he abruptly interrupted.

"Yeah, she did," Danny answered him immediately, without any objection to the change of subject. "They tried couples counseling, but only made it through three sessions before Miller gave up and walked away."

Although Steve was dying to ask how many sessions Danny and Rachel had made it through, now was not the time to get distracted.

"Josh said something about the classes his daddy had had to take, when we were comparing Josh's schools here and on the mainland. This was before they'd reached the point of divorce, the same time Josh went to his first real school outside of day care and kindergarten. He's just started the third grade here in Hawaii."

"If it really was when Josh started first grade, that was nearly a year before they tried counseling," Danny mused. "Why do you think it was something other than night classes; Miller going for his MBA or something?"

Steve offered Danny a tight grin. "Because Josh said his mommy had _forced_ his daddy to go to school, just like she was making Josh go.  He's not a big fan of school, here or in his previous home."

Danny scratched at his chin. "Most little boys aren't. So if it's not counseling and not night school, what kind of courses do mommies force daddies to take? Drug or alcohol counseling comes immediately to mind," he suggested, raising two fingers before curling them down again. "But there was nothing on Eric Miller's record about any possession charges or DUIs. Maybe parenting classes?" he offered along with a finger going up again.  "I think Monica would have mentioned if she'd had a miscarriage or put a child up for adoption. And if those kinds of classes were on Josh's behalf, Josh would likely have been involved in some way, which would have meant mommy forced him to do extra school."

"Josh didn't complain about anything like that," Steve confirmed.

"Okay." Danny lowered his finger once more. "It could have been church. A kid wouldn't necessarily know the difference between a church and school," he theorized some more, his expression just daring Steve to interrupted.

"But in this day and age, that's not something that happens very often and Monica's current household does not speak of someone being overly religious," he shot down his own suggestion when Steve didn't take the bait. "How about – "

Yet.

"How about it's what we're both thinking and you're being too contrary to say out of some sense of payback or something for my theory that Rogers had stalked his public defender in court before he shot her," Steve put out there.

Danny didn't even try to disabuse Steve of his accusation. "You mean anger management. You're thinking Evans played the Kevin Bacon role in this scenario, acting as the middleman between Miller and Rogers. Only one way to find out."

He took out his phone and put in the call to Kono, who answered on the second ring.

 _"_ _You guys got something?"_ she asked without preamble or greeting.

"Check the half-sister's husband's brother and see if you can find out whether he is on record ever taking additional anger management classes in either Indiana or Ohio," Steve instructed her.  If it was court mandated, she should be able to find a record almost immediately. Something voluntary would take a lot more digging, but maybe they'd get lucky.

Chin was the one who gave him their answer. _"_ _Ohio, right at the start of last year. Court mandated, in lieu of serving time."_

"Is there a list of the other enrollees in that particular program?"

_Like Eric Miller?"_

They could hear the smile in Chin's voice.

_Fifth name on the list, Boss."_

"So, Danny, you got any friends in the FBI?"

*****

As per usual, Kono could hear Steve and Danny's arrival before they reached the doors into the HQ. At least this time it didn't sound like they were arguing, not that their shared laughter was any guarantee. Chin came out of his office as they entered, and joined her at the tech table.

"Should we be worried?" Steve asked when presented with their united front.

"Should we?" Chin countered with a raised brow and a nod to Steve and Danny's shit-eating grins.

Danny shook his head. "I was just telling Steve about how my lovely and loving daughter, Grace, was given an assignment to pick one of her parents and interview them about their job. When she mentioned this to Rachel, Grace then apologized and said that while she was sure that Step-Stan's real estate business was important and exciting, the rest of the kids would be more interested in hearing about being a cop. I thought I could bring her by next Wednesday around four, so she can ask you guys questions too, if that's okay?"

"Fine by me, brah," Kono told him. "We'll do our best to live up to her teacher's expectations and help you further break Stan's heart," she added, giving him a wink.

Danny looked positively gleeful. "The only thing that would have made it better was if I could have been there to see his face when she told them about the assignment. Rachel's was certainly sour enough when Grace told me the same."

"Does Rachel work?" Chin asked.

Danny shook his head. "Not anymore. Back in Jersey she was a CPA, working up in Manhattan. She doesn't need to do that kind of thing now."

Because Stan was loaded went unsaid, but the bitterness in Danny's tone said it for him. Kono wondered how long Danny was going to let that, let the whole divorce thing fester. If that was what falling in love did to you …divorce, murder, betrayal.

"Hey, if you have Grace next Wednesday, that means you have her the weekend after, right?" Kono asked, figuring they could use a change of subject.  "There's a surfing competition going on up at North Shore then and a lot of guys from my old team will be there. If you want to bring Grace, I can get you behind the scenes access."

Before Danny could answer, his phone rang, the ringtone nondescript, which implied it wasn't someone they knew since Danny had recently been downloaded specific songs for specific people. She'd helped him find Super Chicken's theme song for Steve's.

"Williams," he answered, the scowl he'd worn while answering Chin about Rachel suddenly turning into a smile. Since he didn't move off into his office, none of them bothered to pretend they weren't listening; only Danny wasn't saying anything, was just listening himself.

"Great, thanks for calling," he finally said about a minute later before disconnecting.

"That was Special Agent Foster, from the FBI's Cleveland Field Office.  Ray Evans rolled on Eric Miller as part of a plea deal. They just picked Miller up for murder, conspiracy and a handful of other charges."

Despite the terrific news, Steve was frowning.

Danny called him on it. "What is that face, Steven? This is good news. See, the rest of us are smiling," he said, pointing at Kono and Chin before aiming his finger at his own face.

"I suppose you'll want me to drive you over to Monica Tamin's house so you can to let her know?"

"Are you jealous? Is that it? You're jealous that she likes me more than you?"

"I'm not jealous; I'm just tired of waiting for the I-told-you-so in regard to this case. And maybe a little tired of having to take his highness to the store every night —

"His Highness?

Danny squawked.

"— I'm just saying that most people buy their groceries more than a day at a time," Steve continued, ignoring Danny's indignation.

"Maybe I don't know what I want to eat a week in advance. Some people like a little variety in their menu, instead of living off of egg whites, protein shakes and pineapple.

"Some people could stand to try a few egg whites and protein shakes."

Kono turned to Chin. "Did Steve just call Danny fat?"

"I don't want to know, I don't want to find out.  Lesgo before that stink eye gets turned our way."

"K'Den, bruddah. K'Den."

 

— finis —


End file.
